Short-term exposure limit

A short-term exposure limit (STEL) is the acceptable average exposure over a short period of time, usually 15 minutes as long as the time-weighted average is not exceeded.

STEL is a term used in exposure assessment, occupational health, industrial hygiene and toxicology. The STEL may be a legal limit in the United States for exposure of an employee to a chemical substance. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (U.S. OSHA) has set OSHA-STELs for 1,3-butadiene, benzene and ethylene oxide. For chemicals, STEL assessments are usually done for 15 minutes and expressed in parts per million (ppm), or sometimes in milligrams per cubic meter (mg/m3).

The American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists publishes a more extensive list of STELs as threshold limit values (TLV-STEL).

Similar national exposure limits

 * United Kingdom
 * COSHH (Control of Substances Hazardous to Health).
 * Australia
 * OES Occupational Exposure Standard
 * France
 * VLEP 8h00 (Valeur Limite d’Exposition Professionnelle 8h00)
 * VLEP CT (Valeur Limite d’Exposition Professionnelle Court Terme)
 * Netherlands
 * MAC (Maximaal Aanvaarde Concentratie)
 * Malaysia
 * PEL (Permissible Exposure Limits)
 * Poland
 * NDSCh (Najwyższe dopuszczalne stężenie chwilowe)
 * Russia
 * ПДК (предельно допустимая концентрация)